


Wolf Taming

by Kennel_Boy



Category: Elfquest
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Rape/Non-con Elements, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-08
Updated: 2013-11-26
Packaged: 2017-12-28 20:07:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/996039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kennel_Boy/pseuds/Kennel_Boy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cutter and Skywise thought that Greymung's guards would be the worst thing they'd have to face when going back through the troll tunnels. They couldn't have been more wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For someone who's not even in the fandom anymore, I've been writing/posting a hell of a lot of dark EQ 'fic lately. But I've had a couple of requests for this one, so...
> 
> This is an PWP AU inspired by Swordman's dom!Rayek pictures, particularly his ["Riding the Wolfs"](http://www.y-gallery.net/view/894348/) piece. (NSFW and you may need to be logged in to view.) This is going to be a nastybad piece of torture-porn, so please consider that before going any further.
> 
> This breaks away from Elfquest canon during the troll-tunnel exploration in issue 6 of the original quest, which is up for [free (and legal) reading here](http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics3.html), courtesy of the authors.
> 
> Enjoy!

Cutter was on his feet almost before the thunder of falling stones had stopped ringing in their ears. Dust from the cave-in was still thick in the air; Skywise coughed as he sat up from the tunnel floor, where he’d thrown himself to get out of the way.

**Starjumper...Nightrunner? Did they make it?**

Cutter was no more than a shadow in the faint light that managed to squeeze its way around the deadfall of heavy rocks. It was easier for Skywise to follow the sound of his movements and the wolfish light reflected in his eyes than to try to make out his form. Skywise heard him pause for a moment, likely sending, then exhale in relief.

**Yes, they got clear.** But the good news was only a fleeting comfort. **Worms and bloody dung!** Cutter growled under his breath as he prowled the cave-in. He tried to haul a stone as large as his head away from the rock pile, but couldn’t even stir it for all the weight settled atop it. **Muck-poking trolls -- they must have had someone watching this entrance.**

**I’d bet Starjumper’s pelt on it,** Skywise agreed. **And as soon as they saw us heading back in, they thought they’d shut us out with another rock trap. They could have crushed us!**

Cutter stalked away from the rocks with another growl. **Maybe that was their intention. Greymung sent the Wolfriders to die in the Burning Waste just to soothe his wounded pride. He can’t have thought we’d forget that.** Dark humor flitted across the telepathic link between them. **He wouldn’t have been looking forward to a reckoning.**

**Greymug’s a tuck-tailed coward.** Skywise rose to his feet. **We need to get our teeth around his throat quickly, though -- the wolves won’t last long in that barren sand out there.**

Cutter nodded; it didn’t matter if the gesture wasn’t seen when it could be felt in his reply. **It’s just the two of us against every troll in these tunnels. We’d better get hidden before they come to check their trap. We’ll get Greymung alone as soon as we can and force him to have his guards clear that tunnel. Come on.**

They moved quickly, staying close to the walls and ducking against any cover they could find, listening for voices and footfalls. In very little time, the air in the tunnels cooled and became damp, a long-absent pleasure for two forest-dwellers who’d been forced to make new lives in the middle of a desert.

Not that it had been all bad. Skywise quirked a grin in the dark. He’d had a greater variety of lovemates to tumble with than he could ever have imagined once the Wolfriders had settled into the caves at Sorrow’s End. And if he’d found lovemates among the folk of the Sun Village, his soulbrother, Cutter, had found love -- winning the heart of his Recognized, Leetah, even over the maiden’s (temporary) objections and the far more strident ones of her friend and lovemate Rayek, whose own pride and jealousy had lead to him leaving the desert oasis for parts unknown.

Love, two swiftly-growing cubs, a life of peace -- and Cutter had set it all aside to go running out into the world, looking for High Ones only knew what. It was madness, but a noble madness, and Skywise was proud to journey at his side in this quest. After all, there were all kinds of love, and even if his and Cutter’s wasn’t the right sort for having cubs, it suited him in just about every other way he could think of.

Skywise was so deep in his thoughts that he missed the noose in the dark. At the first brush against his cheek, he thought it to be just the web of another cave spider. In the next instant, however, it jerked tight, cutting off his air. He was hoisted off his feet and into a ceiling tunnel lit with dimly glowing moss. Instinct brought his hands to his throat, but before he could send to Cutter, a pair of hate-filled amber eyes locked with his. The will to fight drained out of him and his hands slid down to his sides, even as he began to strangle at the end of his rope. His lungs burned. His heartbeat pounded ever more loudly in his ears as black spots began to blot out his vision. The rough cords of the noose, dragged upward by his own weight, sawed against the delicate skin of his throat. Yet there was no thought in him to fight or even send to save his life, so utterly was his will smothered by his captor’s hypnotic magic.

Rayek dragged the limp Wolfrider fully up into the tunnel, letting his prey dangle from the ceiling hook while he silently levitated the thin panel of stone back into place. He said nothing, never so much as glancing away from Skywise’s gaze, but a faint smile curved his lips as the younger elf’s eyes bulged and his tongue slid from between lips going plump and dark for want of air. He finally lowered Skywise to the floor when he heard Cutter move on below, now hunting the companion whose desperate, croaking gasps for air were muffled by stone.

Rayek slid his calloused fingers into Skywise’s silver hair, ripping several of the fine strands loose as he jerked his head around to lock their eyes again. His captive’s chest still heaved as he sucked in air, but his body went slack as any possibility of resistance melted away once more.

**Well, star-gazer, we meet again.** Sneering contempt pushed its way into Skywise’s mind, but even so he was helpless to reply. **Don’t worry, your mind will be your own soon enough. But not until I’m ready to receive your flea-bitten chief.**

Rayek’s sending broke off as a long, questioning howl echoed through the caverns below. Skywise could feel Cutter sending for him, increasingly sharp worry raking over his mind as Cutter abandoned his caution. Skywise’s soulname came next, touching a part of him so deep that even Rayek’s hypnotic magic couldn’t fully suppress the shudder that came in response, but strive as he might, Skywise couldn’t manage even a wordless send of warning.

‘Cutter...Cutter please, don’t get yourself caught by trolls trying to save me. It’s too late.’ For if the intimacy of his soulbrother’s touch brought one shudder, the brief invasion of Rayek’s sadism in his mind threatened an entirely different sort of trembling. Rayek had been boastful and hot-headed when Skywise had seen him years before, but nothing like this...not gleefully cruel, not thirsting for pain as if it were water. There was no doubt in his mind that the magic user had gone mad and meant to kill him before pursuing his true prey. Skywise would have given anything to protect Cutter, but it seemed he was going to die in the dark, unable to even bare his fangs in his own defense.

Cutter’s desperate calling faded away as he moved deeper into the tunnels. Rayek’s chuckle in Skywise’s mind was dark as the first gush of blood from a torn throat, chilling Skywise anew in a way that even the worst cruelties of humans had never been able to manage. His heart battered against his ribs, as if it would leap free and warn Cutter itself.

Rayek shifted his position, straddling his captive. The hand in Skywise’s hair slid down and closed around his bruised throat, squeezing firmly, though he could still manage breath.

**There are preparations I must see to first. And I can’t have you giving away the game before everything’s ready.**

Rayek’s mind never withdrew; the connection between them lingered. Skywise felt a split second of anticipation from his captor so intense that it was almost arousal, just before he drew back his free hand and struck him across the face with his fist. Skywise’s head jerked to one side as stars exploded behind his eyes, but Rayek wrenched his gaze back to his own before he could think to even close his eyes, holding him immobile for the next blow.

The tiny part of his will not held by Rayek’s power tried to draw strength to look away, to regain his mind just long enough warn Cutter. He could hear his soulbrother sending for him again.

**Fahr!** Skywise let out a choked sound at his soulname. Tears of fear and helplessness welled in his eyes. Rayek wiped them away before they could blur his vision, a delicate gesture before the next blow split his lip. **Fahr, answer me!*

He would have given anything to reply. But the agony of each blow left him reeling in body, while the building pleasure Rayek took in his torment battered at his mind. A horrified fugue settled over his thoughts, sapping the last of his resistance long before Rayek began to work his way down, pounding into his unprotected stomach with his fists. The air was driven from Skywise’s aching lungs once more, mercifully sending him into unconsciousness.

The memory of golden eyes ablaze with hate followed him down into the dark.


	2. Chapter 2

Cutter ducked into another tunnel, straining to hear the approach of feet over the pounding of his heart, or, more importantly, some sign from his missing soulbrother. So far, he’d found nothing but bats and tiny, pale cave spiders. He knew Skywise couldn’t have come this far in, he couldn’t have been _carried_ this far, but he couldn’t risk the possibility that he might miss something. Maybe he could get ahead of them…

_Them._

He had no idea who _they_ could be. 

He hadn’t met up with a single troll yet. He’d seen signs, all of them old: scattered weapons and broken shields in the tunnels, cold forges, abandoned rooms filled with hacked an overturned furniture. All the tunnels were dark. The air was heavy, smelling of rock and dirt, dank growth, and old soot. There was nothing new. Nothing _alive_. No sign of what could have taken Skywise.

There had been traps beyond the stone deadfall, but he’d have heard or smelled something then. Even if Skywise had been killed…

Cutter licked his lips in agitation. The desert journey had left them swollen and cracked, and his shallow panting was making it worse. The hair along his neck stood at prickling attention, and the pervasive sense of wrongness about these tunnels seemed to be sinking deeper into his guts with every step he took. 

His heel struck something as he ducked into another the doorway. Cutter’s breath caught in his throat as the object rolled hollowly across the stone floor and bumped to an uneven stop, but nothing came to investigate the noise..

After a moment, Cutter crouched warily, feeling his way along the floor, seeking the object he’d disturbed. This deep beneath the earth, there was almost no light to see by, even for a night-dwelling Wolfrider. Only the occasional broken shaft of grey light from filtered in from the air shafts, but down here there was not even that much. His questing fingers trailed over a jagged stone edge where the paved floor came to a stop, then a crumbling lip of bare earth just beneath. He swallowed, then crept forward another silent inch, hand outstretched, sucking in a silent breath.

The scent hit him an instant before his fingers brushed across rough, hollow sockets. Bone. Rotten flesh. Unexpected rough edges scraped across his palms as he stood, still feeling his way up. Bones, piled as tall as he was. Taller. And chewed on. His breath caught in his chest again as his fingers found another set of sockets. He tried to tell himself he’d just found their midden heap, but Cutter had been a hunter for too long to believe his own lie. These were troll skulls. Troll remains. Gnawed, tossed aside and forgotten.

**...cutter…?**

The sending was weak. Pained. But undeniably Skywise.

Cutter tore himself away from the pile and let his horror lend speed and strength to his shaking legs.

**Skywise! Hold on! I’m coming!**

His soulbrother’s sendings were so faint and disjointed that they were hard to follow. More than likely, Skywise was unconscious. That was almost a relief, as was the fact that the path seemed to be taking him back the way he’d come. Skywise had probably fallen into some forgotten pit and hit his head, and Cutter had managed to miss him in his panic.

He stumbled along in the dark until the flickering, red-gold glow of torchlight drew him up short. He flattened himself against a wall and let his eyes adjust to the light. The vast wealth of gold and jewels that once studded the walls of the these heavily-traveled troll streets had been torn free, leaving gaping pits in the floors and walls. But the tunnels themselves were still familiar. Another dozen strides or so would put him in King Greymung’s throne room. Was that where all the surviving trolls had all holed up? 

He forced himself to calm down, to take a slow, deep breath. Still no scent of troll. But he could smell Skywise...and he could smell his blood on the stone. Teeth bared, Cutter moved soundlessly to the archway of the throne room...and stumbled to a halt in amazement 

Rayek sat on Greymung’s winged throne, his brown skin and vulpine grin gleaming bronze in the torchlight. Where the rounded hump of the lodestone had once sat at Greymung’s feet, lay Skywise, bound with his back hunched and face pressed to the stone of the floor, now serving as Rayek’s footrest.

“It took you long enough to find us, wolf-chief,” Rayek drawled, amber eyes meeting Cutter’s shocked blue ones. He gave Skywise a lazy nudge with the toe of his sandal. “I’m sure your packmate would greet you if he was in any shape to do so. He’s been whimpering for you in his sleep.”

Cutter snarled his fury as rage overcame his surprise caution. New Moon’s razor-edged crescent blade gleamed as Cutter tore it from its sheath and hurled himself forward knife in hand. He felt Skywise’s sudden, desperate sending hit as soon as he began his charge --

**TAM, NO! IT’S A TRAP!**

\-- but too late. He’d nearly crossed the room when, without warning, his feet left the floor and he found himself hovering in mid-air, spread eagle, helpless, and rising toward the shadowed roof of the troll hall. Rayek watched him with that same languid amusement, but Skywise’s had turned his head enough to look up. His eyes were wide open now; there was a fear and helplessness there Cutter had never seen before, even as the forest had burned to ash around them.

Rayek’s smile stayed in place, but his eyes narrowed as he stared up at his struggling captive. “Surprised to see me, wolf-chief? 

But the seeming impossibility of Rayek’s survival was the last thing on Cutter’s mind.

“Let him go, you filth!” 

“Snared jackals don’t give orders to hunters,” Rayek replied, his indolence becoming slightly strained as Cutter’s struggles redoubled. “Now be still, before…ah!”

Rayek’s cry was more surprise than pain as Skywise sent desperately at him, channeling all of his anger and fear into a telepathic slap. Rayek’s concentration shattered, causing him to lose his hold and release Cutter. The lithe forest dweller twisted as he fell, landing in a roll and using his momentum to launch himself at Rayek once more.

**You dare?!** The furious sending slammed into Skywise’s mind like a dagger, even as rage-fueled magic swept Cutter off of his feet and flung him across the room as if he weighed no more than a twig. He crashed into a long oaken table that had one feasted King Greymung; it barely shifted under the impact, but Cutter fell to the floor with his head swimming and the air knocked out of him.

Rayek rose from his throne and fetched Skywise a kick in passing as he strode over to Cutter, closing the distance swiftly. The golden-haired chief struggled to reach New Moon, which had fallen to the ground at the impact. It skittered out of his reach before his fingers could close on it, then floated to Rayek’s hand. A moment later, unseen magic jerked Cutter into a sitting position as if he were a ragdoll, then slammed him back against the table again. 

**I was always more than capable of beating you, wolf-chief.** Rayek followed the words with a savage kick to Cutter’s stomach. **My mistake was letting myself be hemmed in by the arbitrary rules of challenge.** Another kick, forcing out a stifled groan of pain with the scant breath the Wolfrier had been able to take in. **Rules that you were praised for violating!** The next kick brought a wordless, involuntary croak of agonized protest. At the next, Cutter’s lips moved, but there was no air left in him to voice his pain. 

Rayek stepped back to survey his work, his smile returning as he watched Cutter writhe and pant in a futile attempt to break free of Rayek’s magic, trying to curl and protect his stomach. **But I think it might have been for the best.** He let Cutter get in one deep breath before driving another kick deep into his bruised flesh. His smile widened when Cutter bit down on his scream. **I survived the Burning Waste. I survived the trolls. It’s done nothing but make me stronger.** He lifted Cutter’s gasping body with a thought, spreading his arms and legs wide. **Strong enough to claim you as a prize.**

Cutter’s blue eyes blazed as he forced his head up and locked gazes with Rayek. **I’ll never show throat to you!**

Rayek sneered and tapped Cutter’s throat with the keen edge of New Moon’s blade. **I’m going to enjoy proving you wrong.** With a gesture, he flung Cutter away again, this time facing forward. The edge of the table drove into Cutter’s agonized guts, wringing another scream from him.

“Stop!” Skywise flung himself against his ropes, but was so tightly bundled and bound that all he managed was to fall onto his side. “Stop it, you foam-sick snake! You’re killing him!”

Rayek tipped his head back and laughed merrily. Strong brown fingers tangled in Cutter’s chief’s lock, the loosely-tied topknot that marked him as the leader of the Wolfriders. He tightened his hold and wrenched Cutter’s head around so that he could take in Skywise’s helpless rage.

“Don’t be a fool. I would never make it so easy for him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That took longer than expected. Sorry guys, seasonal depression is kicking my ass at the moment, so don't look for fast updates on any of my stuff. :(


End file.
